• by July 27, 2006

Time Inc.'s announcement that it will shutter Teen People is not so surprising given media companies' Webbish land grab mentality of late. The magazine's Web site, www.teenpeople.com, will continue. Fifty sales and editorial employees will be cut, and it's not clear whether some of them will be repurposed for the site. Producing magazines is an expensive and labor-intensive proposition, to be sure.

Time Inc. isn't the only one closing titles: Hachette Filipacchi Media announced in April plans to close Elle Girl magazine; Hachette will publish the brand's content online. And Dose, a free Canadian paper for young readers owned by CanWest Global Communications, in May said that it would close its print magazine and pursue a Web-only approach.

The Associated Press reports that Teen People's circulation fell 0.7 percent in 2005, 2.7 percent in 2004, and 3 percent in 2003, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. In the first six months of the year, the magazine's advertising pages fell 14.4 percent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Look, it's not just big glossy consumer titles that are folding up shop and focusing on Web strategies--large and small/niche publishers across the consumer and trade publishing spectrum are rethinking their content strategies.

There will always be a demand and desire for print magazines, though. As an urban dweller, I can assure you that I am lost without my New Yorker as a daily presence in my bag on a short commute. I keep the latest copy with me until I make "all gone" with it, pulling it out on the train, while waiting around for a friend or an appointment, and at home. Mags are highly serviceable and there is absolutely no replacement for them. Tactile and visual, magazines continue to engage and delight, amaze and confound. And let's face it, viewing the ads remains an occupational necessity and is part of the print medium's overall allure.

That said, I long for readable, funny, engaging, and interactive mags that are online with bite-size nuggets of useful information. I want a highly curated and insightful online page-turner. Video is great, but I don't want it to be intrusive; I want it to be seamless. The closest I've come to something I like in online magazines is Treehugger.com and Rocketboom.com--I'm not interested in poring through a mass of content online. And while archived articles are great (that's what search is good for), why on earth do magazines, including MediaPost's, persist in repurposing the current issues online, as is? Wouldn't it be great to have original, online-only editions, wholly different from print brethren?

I think so.

P.S., it's that time again: MediaPost seeks nominations for the Online All Stars! We are seeking individuals who exemplify excellence and leadership in online media, marketing and advertising. Media company executives and online ad technology providers/vendors will not be considered.

The editors will select three marketers, three media agency strategists, and three creative directors who passionately evangelize and deploy digital media and marketing stategies. The All Stars will be feted at a party on Sept. 25 during the OMMA Conference & Expo and honored in the pages of OMMA magazine's October issue.

Send all nominations to telkin@mediapost.com with "All Stars" in the subject line by Aug. 4.